As was the case in Gallipoli, the WW2 Battle of Timor in which my grandfather was killed, was poorly planned, under resourced, and a terrible, stupid waste of life. He was 30 years old. I imagine he enlisted into the 2/40th, along with other young Tasmanian pastoralists, with the intent to be honourable, be brave, do the right thing. In this aspect I have no doubt that he excelled. My grandfather’s battalion was criminally under resourced and under supported, which resulted in a sickening number of Tasmanian farmers slowly dying on the Burma Railway after they were captured in Timor.

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives, You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours. You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well. Ataturk’s tribute

It saddens me deeply that people kill and are killed for politics, for nationalist expansion, for/by old men who make decisions about the lives of people who they will never meet.